Meet Your Winter Olympic Influencers

This February, the Milan Winter 2026 Olympics brought to light a new cohort of “influencer” Olympians. With the rise of TikTok and short-form media style videos in 2020, the Paris 2024 Olympics comprised Gen Z athletes who began posting content about their experiences. As the trend continues this Winter Olympics, it prompts the question of whether short-form media has become the new mode of communication and pathway to “influencer” stardom for young Olympians. 

In the Paris 2024 Olympics, a handful of athletes garnered viral attention on TikTok. Certain Olympians even cultivated their own online personas, unrelated to their sport. For instance, a swimmer for Team Norway, Henrik Christiansen, became known as “The Muffin Man,” solely for posting content about the Olympic Village chocolate muffins in the dining hall. He used several trending TikTok sounds, often framing himself and the chocolate muffin as romantic interests. Christiansen even changed his profile picture to one of him biting a medal on one side of his mouth and his beloved chocolate muffin on the other. Following his virality, many other Olympians posted TikToks of themselves trying the chocolate muffin, or despairing that it is always running out in the dining hall. While Christiansen is a three-time Olympian since 2016, he has yet to earn a medal, placing 20th and 25th in 2024. Given how short-lived competitive swimmers’ careers are, the 29-year-old Muffin Man may have found a new source of income as an influencer. In fact, he was recently invited to the Milan Olympics to make more content with Italian food. He even created a storyline where his chocolate muffin was jealous of him canoodling with the famed tiramisu.

Another Olympian for the USA Women’s Rugby team, Ilona Maher, went viral for the funny videos she made in the Olympic Village, including her ongoing bit of treating the Village like the “Love Island” Villa. As she amassed a fanbase, Maher had more supporters following Women’s Rugby and cheering on Team USA as they won their first Olympic medal in Paris. Afterwards, both Maher and Stephen Nedoroscik, aka the “Pommel Horse Guy” from Team USA Gymnastics, went on to compete in Season 33 of “Dancing with the Stars,” illustrating the extent of their Olympic stardom stemming from their TikTok fame. 

In the Milan 2026 Olympics, some Winter Olympians have continued the trend of posting regular TikTok content in the Village, including Hannah Lim, Amber Glenn, and Jake Pates. As an ice dancer for Team Korea, Hannah Lim made TikToks of her The North Face Olympic kit unboxing, her skating partner He Quan, and teammate Cha Junhwan, trading pins, and other fun videos with her friends in the Olympic Village. Similarly, Amber Glenn, a figure skater for Team USA, has posted her Olympic Village room tour, her Skims kit haul, and videos with her teammates Ilia Malinin and Alysa Liu. In the snowboarding category, Jake Pates from Team USA posts a variety of TikToks about his time at the Milano Cortina, including trying the Olympic Ring pasta in the Village dining hall, fit checks, and other funny content in the Olympic Village. 

Many of these Winter Olympian “influencers” utilize video trends or sounds in their TikToks, whether to flex on their performance and placement in their discipline, or just to have fun and document their experiences. This helps humanize the athletes we tend to idolize, and these intimate glimpses on TikTok also remind Gen Z audiences of their shared generational resonance. At the same time, Olympians’ online presence also serves to create and deepen parasocial affinity with viewers, thereby growing their audience base and leading to greater glorification. 

Amid the current political climate in the United States and resulting international reputational harm, some Olympians have used their new platforms to speak out about what it means to compete for Team USA. For example, as an openly queer woman, Amber Glenn has stated in an interview the difficulties her community, along with others, has faced under the Trump administration. However, this incited a wave of backlash in her Instagram comment section, causing her to step back from the platform. Similarly, freestyle skier Hunter Hess said it “brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now,” clarifying that wearing the United States flag doesn’t mean he represents its current policies. President Trump himself responded by calling Hess “a real loser” on Truth Social. Additionally, Vice President Vance commented that athletes who “enter the political arena… should expect some pushback.” Vance may not have anticipated the international response in entering the Olympic arena, however, as he was met with some boos from the crowd during the Milano Cortina opening ceremony. 

The hate comments on social media are not just limited to the outspoken Olympians from Team USA, though. Even in the apolitical posts showing clips of their performance, there are comments left about how the United States should be suspended, or not allowed to compete, due to the Trump administration. Yet, from the athletes’ perspective, they have trained their whole lives and finally have the opportunity to compete in the Olympics, but the appreciation is diffused by policies outside of their control. On the other hand, the attention attracted from Olympians’ online presence could also work as a source of soft power, a nation’s ability to influence through attraction, that counteracts the United States’ diminished global reputation. 

While some Olympians develop their own online persona, other renowned athletes use TikTok to fuel their existing audience. For example, this was Eileen Gu’s second Winter Olympics, competing in freestyle skiing for Team China, winning three gold and three silver medals in total, becoming the most decorated freestyle skier in history. Gu gained attention following her decision to “leave” Team USA to compete for China, as a Chinese-American with dual citizenship. Some Americans viewed this as a betrayal at the time, but during the Milano Cortina 2026, there were comments that commended Gu for her choice. She’s also regarded as a triple threat, having attended Stanford University and signed with a modeling agency. Gu’s TikToks typically consist of videos to shorter sounds in reference to her competing. 

Another Olympian, Ilia Malinin from Team USA, is a figure skater nicknamed the “Quad God” for his proficiency at quadruple jumps, which is also his TikTok username. Malinin’s TikTok videos during the Milano Cortina were mostly collaborations with his different partners, such as Team USA and Home of Skating. Although he was favored to win the gold medal at this Olympics, he made several errors during his free skate that caused him to place eighth. Afterwards, many fans who follow Malinin on TikTok noticed his Reposts, including videos of encouragement when things are hard, and reassurance that things will get better. The comments section of many of these reposted videos is flooded with Ilia’s fans who express their worry for him or write him messages of support. Although Malinin’s performance didn’t go as well as he had hoped, it may have strengthened his parasocial bond with his preexisting fans. 

The growth of TikTok and the addition of Gen Z Olympians have created a new window into the Olympic Games experience. Will this help to propel the short-form video style into the new norm of Olympic athlete media content? There are still Olympians who don’t have TikTok accounts, including Alysa Liu, the Women’s Singles figure skating champion for Team USA, who still reaches the heights of fame. Or Team Korea’s Cha Junhwan, a figure skater known as the “Korean Ice Prince”, who drew attention for his visuals while being featured on his teammate Hannah’s TikTok; yet, he doesn’t have an account himself. Nevertheless, we’ve witnessed select, previously unknown Olympic influencers rise to fame and possibly sustain it long after the games end, such as Henrik “The Muffin Man” Christiansen. While their platforms can be used to speak up about politics or promote soft power, some critics assert that these Olympians’ celebrity is short-lived, however, and fades once they leave the Olympic Village. For instance, Amy Pei, a marketing professor from Northeastern, contends that “Olympic visibility is best understood as a launch moment rather than a permanent income stream.” As short-form media is explored as a new career and content avenue, the answer to this statement remains to be seen.